


The Beginnings Of A Road Trip (And A Romance)

by orphan_account



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: (neither are sexual istg this is not sexual), FAHC, FAHC Jack is buff as hell and I will die on this hill, Fake AH Crew, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Jack Pattillo, Other, Pre-Crew, Pre-Relationship, Trans Jack Pattillo, Use of a Taser, Use of handcuffs, a character goes unconscious but it's fine this whole thing is actually surprisingly fine, because ryan and jack, how do you tag major character death when it didn't actually happen?, i'll add the right tag when i find it again, like it's there for a sentence or two but THEY ARE BUFF, oh and it's rated teen for inexplicit violence and a lot of swearing, oh and this is for the secret sunshine thing!, secret sunshine gift exchange, vague innuendoes too but literally they're like said once and never referenced again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:47:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25740799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ryan was - something. He was a mess, maybe, or empty. He was supposed to be a hardened professional criminal, but then again, Geoff was supposed to be dead.A lot of things seem to be going unexpectedly, though. He should get used to it.
Relationships: Ryan Haywood & Geoff Ramsey, Ryan Haywood & Jack Pattillo, Ryan Haywood/Jack Pattillo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	The Beginnings Of A Road Trip (And A Romance)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a) incredibly late and b) part of the RTAH writing discord's secret sunshine gift exchange! Courtney asked for any ship involving Ryan, FAHC, and the prompt "you're the mark that I'm supposed to transport but fuck you're kinda cute" and out came this. Special thanks to Willow and a couple others for betaing/editing, and Courtney, I hope you like it :D
> 
> (also, if I go insane in quarantine, I'll probably end up expanding on this - but it does read as a standalone!)

Ryan woke up to the sight of a very tall woman standing over him, which was alarming for several reasons.

One, he wasn’t home; he was at an out-of-the-way hotel room, where he’d used a fake name and cash to get a room and theoretically, he should have been difficult or outright impossible to trace. Two, he had no way of telling if she was allied with the man who’d been relentlessly tracking him down for the past four days, hell-bent on killing him. And three, and most immediately pressing, was that the woman had a taser hovering just above his chest, a proper police taser with wicked barbs and temporary paralyzing power.

“Hi,” he said cautiously, hands spread non-threateningly across the top of the blankets. He was deeply uncomfortable with the fact that he was flat on his back while she stood strongly above him. It was very clear from a quick look-over that she was built like a tank, and her expression was about as friendly.

“Hi,” she said with a put-upon sigh - as if  _ she _ were the one inconvenienced by all this. “You’re Ryan Haywood, right? Known as the Vagabond in more unsavory circles?”

_ Fuck fuck fuck. _ She knew way too much about him for comfort. Either he’d been completely discovered by a total unknown, or something from his past was coming back to haunt him. It had been a  _ long _ time since he’d given his name to anyone.

Still, he shook his head, hoping she’d take the bluff and leave. He’d wait until she was well out the door and then grab his mask and jacket and go out the window; the roof was easy to access and difficult to see from a lower vantage point-

Except she just narrowed her eyes and twitched the taser threateningly. 

“You sure about that?” she asked. “You wake up to find someone threatening standing over you with a taser to your chest and don’t even flinch, and you’re not a notorious criminal? I saw you judge the situation. Even if you’re not Haywood, chances are you know him. So either fess up, or tell me where I can find him.” She smiled slightly then, and when she tilted her head he could make out reddish hair falling against her cheek. “Fair warning, if it’s the latter, I’ll still end up tasing you to make sure you don’t follow me out. I’ve come a long way to find Vagabond, and I’m not about to let you mess it up.”

“Who’s asking for him?” Ryan asked after a long moment of thinking. At least if she was going to kidnap him or something, he could still get some info about who and where and why, which would hopefully make it easier to escape and get to one of his hidey-holes.

And then her smile grew even wider, and she said,“Geoff Ramsey’s calling in a favor.” 

Ryan was  _ fucked _ .

He would have groaned in despair, or moved to fight, but then there was the sound of a bullet ripping through the door, and then the taser barbs were in his chest and he couldn’t control his body, and the world went dark to the sound of another gunshot.

When Ryan woke up, it was a slow process, and it was filled with lots of thinking.

The first thing he noticed was that he was in a car. Second, he wasn’t shot. Or injured much at all, really, beyond the stinging pain in his chest. 

Third, the woman who’d taken him had to be lying or working for Edgar, because Geoff was  _ dead _ .

Honestly, he wished it wasn't true, but it was a fact. He’d met Geoff early on in his brief career in Los Santos, after he’d run away from his life back east. They’d gotten along like a house on fire; something about Geoff had pulled honesty from Ryan like water from a well. He’d learned Ryan’s name inside a week, for heaven’s sake! Honestly, the guy’s people skills were so good that Ryan was a bit jealous, but never had he doubted the man’s integrity. Ryan had never had a better friend, and he’d honestly never had as happy a time as when he and Geoff were out causing chaos.

But Geoff had disappeared in the flames of a burning warehouse on a job gone very, very wrong. He’d told Ryan to get himself out and that he owed Geoff a favor if they both made it through this. And then he’d stayed gone, and while no human remains had been found in the ashes, Geoff hadn’t appeared anywhere, either. 

So Ryan had presumed him dead, and at long last he’d gone back to Georgia, where the only people who knew his name were either family members or dead.

Or Edgar. He’d never be free of the bastard, apparently.

Edgar had once been a friend,too; back before Geoff, before Los Santos entirely. They’d lived together a while and gotten along well. They’d worked jobs together when Ryan left the crew life, both of them new freelancers and a little too reckless. Things had been nice… until they weren’t. Until Ryan started noticing that Edgar was getting more unhinged, that he was committing more and more disturbing crimes, until he suddenly realized one night that he no longer felt safe sharing a living space with the man.

He’d started quietly moving his things into a safe house, wondering how he would explain his slow and cautious extraction to his crazy ex-friend, when Edgar had attacked him. Even with the recent downward spiral, it was totally unexpected, and Ryan had nearly died himself before finally putting him down.

Then two days later the man had come back from the dead,  _ somehow _ , and he’d scared Ryan right out of Georgia. Suddenly, his whole way of life was in danger - Edgar had known  _ so much _ about him. He’d met Ryan’s family, knew his past, knew that he liked dogs more than cats and that he was picky about his vegetables and a hundred other things that made him the person who knew Ryan best, because unlike Ryan’s family, Edgar also knew about Ryan’s criminal side.

So Edgar had pushed him to Los Santos, to Geoff; who had pushed him back to Georgia, to where Edgar was still apparently angry with him. It had taken him months to return to his home state and he’d been immediately hunted. Ryan had consigned himself to leaving again, but literally the next day, the woman appeared over his bed saying a dead man’s name.

“I can tell you’re awake,” she said from the seat next to him.

Ryan groaned, blinking his eyes open slowly. The car was thrumming nicely beneath him, clearly a well-loved vehicle. A glance to his left showed the woman in the driver’s seat, looking forwards but darting looks towards him every few seconds.

She looked much nicer when she wasn’t looming over his prone body. Her hair was a brighter red in the daylight, curled messily against her head and neck with frizz climbing towards the car ceiling. She had a bright-as-hell Hawaiian shirt buttoned up to just below her collarbone, and blue-striped shorts that reached just to the tops of her thighs. When he peered into the footwell, he saw no-nonsense boots, the kind that would shatter a shinbone with a well-placed kick or two. They very clearly complemented the frankly intimidating muscles she had.

“Liking what you see, Haywood?” she said with a smirk, looking over at him with eyes as blue as his own. It was sort of strange, seeing that shade outside his family. 

Then he blushed as he realized what she was implying, and in his attempt to appear casually intimidating he finally realized that his hands were handcuffed to the passenger door.

“What the fuck!” he yelped, tugging at the chain where it wrapped securely around the door… post. Thing. He wasn’t good with words even when he hadn’t recently awoken from being violently electrocuted.

“Had to make sure you wouldn’t bail on me,” she said cheerily, pressing the gas to lurch the car forwards. Ryan gulped as he looked out the window to see the world blurring past, and then over at the speedometer to see that she was doing well upwards of eighty. He’d have to be  _ insane _ to jump out at this speed, but then again, the woman seemed determined to not underestimate him. He could respect that, at least.

Though he had to know. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Jack,” she said. “And if you call me a woman, you’ll regret it. They and them pronouns or else I’ll personally rip off your nuts, saute them, and hand-feed them to you. Other than that, we should get on fine for now.”

And they smiled at him, a very happy smile considering what they’d just said, and Ryan nodded quickly as he mentally changed everything he knew about Jack to  _ person _ and  _ they.  _ He would appreciate the chance to settle down and have a kid or two, some day in the future.

And yet… they seemed amiable enough, despite the threat. Once Ryan was convinced he wouldn’t fuck up his language, he turned to them again. “You said Geoff sent you for me.”

“Yep. He says you owe him a favor.”

“He’s dead.” Ryan had waited three weeks for Geoff to reappear; the man, if he wasn’t dead, owed Ryan a hell of an explanation.

“He’s most certainly not,” Jack scoffed. “He’s got some impressive burn scars, and even more impressive tattoos, and now he’s aiming for a very impressive little crime empire, but he’s very far from dead.”

Ryan stared at Jack for a long moment before finally asking, “How?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know.” Jack gave him an apologetic glance before continuing. “I met him about a month ago, when he saved my life and taught me how to shoot. When he told me to come get you, he wouldn’t give a lot of details. Honestly, though, I think he feels guilty.”

“What?”

“You left Los Santos because of him.” Jack shrugged. “He knew you were happy there, at least, and he was sad to hear you’d left. He seems convinced you wouldn’t be as happy anywhere else but in Los Santos, so he’s decided to drag you back kicking and screaming if that’s what it takes.” They said it all so casually, like they hadn’t just ripped into the most traumatic event of Ryan’s recent life and laid the facts and consequences bare for him to see.

“Well, I’m certainly not kicking and screaming,” he managed. “Geoff’s  _ alive _ ? I know what you’re saying, but I- I saw him go into the warehouse, Jack. I waited  _ weeks _ for him to come back, and he never said a word or showed up anywhere! Whoever the fuck you’re working for, Jack, it isn’t Geoff, I’m sorry.”

And now he was regretting opening his mouth, because Jack’s face - a surprisingly open book for a criminal - was flickering between anger and pity, because they’d apparently picked up on the frustration and pain he’d tried so hard to keep out of his voice.

They said nothing, just reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone. Without looking away from the road, they unlocked it and pulled up a contact to FaceTime, propping it above the car radio as the call rang.

It went to voicemail once; Jack immediately hit the redial button. This time, the other end picked up after a few rings, and though it was dark on their end, Ryan could clearly see an overgrown mustache. And then Geoff spoke - and there was no mistaking Geoff’s voice.

“What the fuck, Jack?” he whined, squinting into the phone screen. “It’s like seven in the morning, I was sleeping.”

“Someone wasn’t convinced you were still kickin, boss,” Jack called back, smiling once more. It was the most natural grin Ryan had seen on them yet; it was nothing more, he thought, than simple happiness to hear a friend’s voice. “I figured I’d cut the bullshit and show you off to him. Ryan, say hi.”

“Oh  _ fuck _ ,” Geoff yelped, suddenly scrambling, and the video on his end went crazy for a few seconds before a light suddenly flicked on. “You found him? Ryan’s with you?”

“I - yeah. Geoff?”

“Holy shit!” Now Geoff was grinning too, corners of his eyes crinkling and teeth glinting in the light of his bedside lamp. “Dude, it’s been ages! I wasn’t sure Jack would be able to find you, but Gavin’s a miracle worker at tracking people and Jack’s the friendliest face I have besides my own. How are you, man?”

Ryan raised an eyebrow, feeling unnervingly like everything was normal. “They woke me up with a taser to my chest, knocked me out, and handcuffed me to a car door. You need a new definition of friendly face.”

“They  _ what _ ?” Geoff’s voice cracked, and Ryan couldn’t help a small smile on his own face. “Jack, what the fuck did you do that for?”

“There’s a maniac trying to kill him, Geoff, retrieving the guy was a pain in the ass. You could have warned me about that asshole.”

“Jack also threatened to feed me my own balls,” Ryan interjected as Geoff spluttered.

His eyes went wide as Geoff waved off his statement. “That’s normal for them - Ryan, why the fuck is someone trying to kill you? This time, I mean?”

“I-” Ryan suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe. Geoff was alive, he was going back to Los Santos. Edgar still wanted to kill him and Jack had somehow found him and just ripped his world apart. “Um, long story.” Though he couldn’t have even stuttered out a short one right now, he was pretty sure.

Jack spoke up again, their loud voice commanding Geoff’s attention. “Gotta let you go, boss. There’s a gas station coming up that I need to fuel up at, and I don’t want any distractions when I’m out of the car until we’re in Oklahoma. I’ll call you when we stop.”

Then they reached over and tapped the end call button before Geoff could protest, and the car was silent again.

Ryan was - something. He was a mess, maybe, or empty. He was supposed to be a hardened professional criminal, but then again, Geoff was supposed to be dead.

“Hey.” Jack reached over to rest a hand on his leg, and something in his spine unlocked and left him slumping against the window. “You okay?” 

Ryan stayed silent, and when Jack withdrew their hand, he wished he had spoken up.

Eventually, they did reach a gas station, and Jack left him spaced out in the car while they pumped gas. When they slid back into the driver’s seat, they leaned over the console and picked at his handcuffs until they fell away from his wrists. 

“You okay?” they asked again, hands over his, and this time Ryan was compelled to speak.

“I think so.” Jack pulled the truth from him just like Geoff had. “I just… I thought he was dead.”

Jack’s thumb brushed over the red line where the cuff had sat uncomfortable against his skin, one side of their mouth quirking up into a half-smile. “I’m sorry,” they murmured. “I know it’s a lot. But he’s alive and well, and he wants you to come back to Los Santos.”

“And you came out here to get me,” Ryan sighed, shifting to sit straight in his seat. Despite having been literally unconscious for most of the morning, he was suddenly exhausted again.

“I’m glad of it, now.” Jack retreated back to their own seat, but they were looking at him confidently, blue eyes to match his unwilling to let his gaze go. “You seem pretty decent. At the very least, you care about Geoff, and I’m willing to give a chance to people who treat my friends right.”

As they started the car and rolled back onto the highway, Ryan spoke up one last time before sleep overtook him. “So you won’t cut off my dick, then?”

Jack laughed at that, a gorgeous sound that he wanted to hear again. “We’ll see, Ryan. We’ll see. But I think you’ll be fine.”

Car thrumming under him peacefully, Ryan fell asleep as Jack drove them home.


End file.
